Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that one of the cuts he’d make to the federal budget if elected would be subsidies for CPB and PBS. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) was quick to point out that among the losers should this happen would be fans of Elmo and Big Bird.
Romney’s remarks came in an interview with Forbes. The public broadcasting organizations were mentioned in a group that also included Amtrak and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Romney said he did not have a problem with the services, but he couldn’t see spending money on them when the budget was already in deficit.
He told Forbes, “Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to strand on their own rather than receiving money.”
Markey responded quickly when Romney’s statement became public. He said, “A Ryan-Romney ticket buys admission to a budget match-up where Big Oil wins and Big Bird loses. In a budgetary blow to children and parents everywhere, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would take an axe to PBS while feeding billions in taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies with a silver spoon. Congressman Ryan’s budgets protect $40 billion in subsidies for the most profitable oil companies on the planet but would put an end to Elmo’s World.”
